Court of Appeals weighs challenge to termination of father's parental rights in step‑parent adoption

The Utah Court of Appeals heard live‑streamed oral argument on an appeal challenging the termination of a biological father's parental rights in a step‑parent adoption, during which counsel debated whether the trial court properly treated the father's limited communications as "token efforts" and whether the best‑interest analysis foreclosed therapeutic reunification.

Appellant counsel Lillian Reedy said the panel should consider the totality of the circumstances surrounding the father's lack of contact and the effect of his traumatic brain injury, arguing that the district court failed to probe why communication had lapsed and whether supervised, therapeutic reunification ordered by the court could address the children's fears. "If that therapeutic process doesn't work, then they can still request that, okay, now we're seeing that the harm..." Reedy said in rebuttal, urging the court to allow the reunification pathway to…